Artisan Whimsy has a tutorial for upcycling Christmas Lights

Great tutorial on upcycling Christmas lights as earrings over at Artisan Whimsy posted by Carolyn Collin. Go take a look - these would make lovely gifts at anytime of the year.  Thank you Carolyn for the clear directions and great pictures.

Leave a link if you make any of your own - Thanks!

Ways you can help

Copper Diem just posted some wonderfully helpful information about donating handmade jewelry. Here is a link to here article:  http://copperdiem.blogspot.com/2012/12/so-how-can-i-help.html.  If you have a spot of time, look through her past posts for more ideas and info about spreading the love around.

Thanks!

- Elaine

Holiday Bling Blog Hop 2

Heather Rats sent me this lovely wind chime.  As you can see, it is centered around her handmade tree of life – perfect for this time of year when I am reminded of how much I have to be grateful for in my life.  We are busy getting ready to travel 1100 miles to see family members in Illinois, working round many work and school schedules.  At times, all this planning can seem overwhelming and a bit irritating, but then in the distance I hear the Tree of Life’s chime.  That graceful sound directs my spirit to put my brain back into the right place and all is well again.  I have no idea how Heather choose such a perfect gift for me, but she did.  Thank You Heather!  

Notice how the sun shines through the stone - beautiful!

You can see more of Heather’s creations here in her web site.  After you tour around Heather’s beautiful place, settle in for a bit and go on a gift exchange tour.

Thanks for stopping by - Elaine

PS - Guess who didn't read the instructions very closely.  As it turns out, I was supposed to post a picture of  the gift I created for Heather - opps!  Anyway, here is my update and picture.  The tray is made with a buff clay and greenish glaze.  "May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near, and all your heart desires."  This was the first item I have made in years other than beads and pendants.  It was a joy to make and a prompt for me to make more.  Thanks again for stopping by.

Shirley Moore	http://www.beadsandbread.blogspot.com
Lori Bowring Michaud	http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com
Catherine King	http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com
Dyanne Cantrell	http://deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com
Sonya Stille	http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com
Elaine Ray	http://elaineray.blogspot.com
Gina Hockett	http://freestyleelements.blogspot.com
Jo-Ann Woolverton	http://itsabeadifulcreation.blogspot.ca
Debbie Rasmussen	http://kepirasmussen.blogspot.com
Renetha Stanziano	http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com
Ginger Bishop	http://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com
Miranda Ackerley	http://mirandack.com/category/thoughts
Sandra McGriff	http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.ca
Tammie Everly	http://ttedesigns.blogspot.com
Alicia Marinache	http://www.allprettythings.ca
Melinda Abrahamson	http://www.firstreetcrafts.com
Rita/ Toltec Jewels	http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com
Chandra Merod	http://www.junipergoods.blogspot.com
Mary Govaars	http://www.mlhjewelrydesigns.com
Kelley Fogel	http://www.mylifeonebeadatatime.blogspot.com
Tiffany Goff Smith	http://www.southerngalsdesign.blogspot.com
Heather Rats Otto	http://www.thecrafthopper.com
Anitra Gordy Boyers	www.leelucreations.blogspot.com
Marlene Cupo	http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com
Shelley Graham Turner	www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com

Art Bead Love Tour

The Art Bead Love Tour is moving along again.  It is currently leaving the hands of Mimi Gardner of baubles, beads and other curiosities.   I'm always excited to see this chain and love seeing what people choose to keep for themselves and what they choose to add to the chain.  This time Mimi choose to keep a bezel pendant and bead I made.  (#4 and #8 below).  Woot!

If you'd like a chance to be part of the tour, click here for all the info:  Art Bead Love Tour - baubles, beads and other curiosities.  Read the instructions carefully and good luck!

Snowflake bezel ornament restock

I did a quick snowflake bezel ornament restock to squeeze in before Christmas.  A few new colors this time.  My favorite is the blue glaze on the dark clay.  I'm really, really hoping to see some pictures from people once they have filled the bezel part.  Enjoy!

Snowflake Ornament bezel

Snowflake Ornament

I no longer have any teenagers and it seems my three kids are getting more and more independent by the hour.  This is a really good thing.  I have always had so many new bead and pendant ideas rolling around in my head it was hard not to trip on them, but my time was limited.  Now I have much more time (as some more space at home) to let my creative energies out to play.  Just taking the time to lay these snowflake ornaments out in such a precise pattern felt like a luxury.

These Snowflake Ornaments are 3.5 inches tip to tip and have a bezel are in the middle for you to fill with your own special thoughts   You could put a picture there or load it up with tiny objects and seal with Diamond Glaze.  I'd love it if you'd send me a picture of your finished projects.

If you'd like a smaller snowflake, here is another option:

Snowflake Pendant

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back soon - I've got more ideas brewing even now.

- Elaine

acorns

A bit blurry, but I wanted to share these acorns I made. I don't typically do shapes like this, so it was a challenge for me, but I'm really liking them. The process of making these was a reminder for me to test and retest. The attempt was just one acorn - a glazed 9 mm round with a glazed bead cap on top, set in the kiln on a spike. It turned out perfect. So, being in a hurry, I made about 30 more the same way. Not so perfect - most of the caps slid off sideways as the glaze began to flow. Ugh! So with these I attached the caps before glazing. Almost 100% success. Yay!

Mismatched Earring Swap Blog Hop

Several weeks ago I signed up to participate in an mismatched earring swap / blog hop hosted by Diana Ptaszynski.  I was bit hesitant since I rarely make jewelry - I even overheard Cynthia Deis say I get "whiny" whenever I do.  Well, when I heard that I felt a bit of self defense kick in and thought really loudly in my own head: "I don't really whine, it is just more of a whimper.  Just enough to make some designer near me take pity and finish up the piece for me."  That's all - just a few quiet whimpers and the jewelry always gets finished.  (- hey, it works for me )

Anyway, back to this earring swap.  I signed up thinking - "How hard can this be, the earrings don't even have to match."  So I put it off, put it off and put it off as the shipping deadline is closing in on me.  I'm telling myself, don't worry - you are thinking of designs in your head; it won't be difficult; you can do this; tomorrow you'll start....all this because in reality I have zero design ideas - none, notta one.  So the shipping day gets here and I make myself stand in front of the bins where there are most likely a couple thousand Elaine Ray Beads sitting waiting and hoping to be chosen to become a pair of earrings.  I take a deep breath, reach for my bins and then the whining begins.  Real, loud, self pitying whining.  Why did I sign up for this, this is too hard, I can't design one - let alone two earrings; why can't I just send my swap partner a big handful of beads so she can design her own earrings.  I whine some more and start pacing around, beads poured out of containers, beads poured back into containers, and on and on.  Finally, my daughter Cora steps in and talks me down off the ledge of my kiln.  Cora is level headed, she doesn't get frazzled, she asks a simple question:  "Do you have any samples of 'mismatched earrings' to work from?"  Tada!  "Why, yes I do" - I say as my heart rate slows and my voice pitch lowers a bit.  I show her Diana's original blog post inviting everyone to the blog hop.  Cora calmly points out:  "OK - it looks like Diana has a 'theme' to her earrings, lets start there."  Smooth sailing from there on out.  Thank you Cora.  

Now, on to the earring reveal.  All that whining, worry and work was well worthwhile.  Take a look at the earrings that Carolyn Collins of Sparkling Waters Studio sent me:  

WooHooo!  I am sooooo lucky to have such a talented swap partner.  In love with these earrings I am! 

Here is what Carolyn has listed: 

Fine .999 silver electroplated finding

Vintage jewelry box - art glass - key

Repurposed silver tray in keyhole shape, hand stamped

Close up of the back of the keyhole - these earrings certainly found love here in NC.

And here is a picture of the beautiful packaging Carolyn sent my precious gift in: 

Well, now I"m so happy about this earring swap, I'm considering entering Diana's mishatched Halloween earrings challenge.  But if I do, this time I'm going to start the whining right at Ornamentea's work table.  Maybe someone will take pity on me......

Want to see some additional eye candy?  Follow the list to all the swap participate's blogs:  

Diana Ptaszynski  http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com

Lisa Liddy http://www.lisaliddy.wordpress.com

Kari Asbury  http://www.hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com

Jayne Capps  http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com/

Rebecca Anderson  http://www.songbeads.blogspot.com

Lesley Watt  http://www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com

Lori Bowring Michaud  http://www.artfullyornamental.blogspot.com

Renetha Stanziano  http://www.lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com

Holly Westfall   http://www.silverrosedesigns.blogspot.com/

Theresa Fosdick  http://www.thoughtful-notions.blogspot.com/

Ali McCarthy  http://www.northwoodscreativestudio.blogspot.com

Shai Williams  http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Iveth Caruso  http://www.creativeatelier.net/blog.html

Carolyn Collins  http://www.sparklingwaterstudio.com

Kristen Stevens  http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com/

Charlene Jacka  http://clay-space.com/blog

Jan Onipenco  http://www.MoltenMayhem.typepad.com

Stephanie Woods  http://www.rainydaysdesigns.com

Eleanor Burian-Mohr  http://www.cornerstoregoddessjewelry.blogspot.com

Shelby Foxwell  http://www.sundownbeaddesigns.blogspot.com

Pam Sears  http://www.crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com

Mary Harding  http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com

Lisa Johnson  http://www.Whimsyswonders.blogspot.com

Kashmira Patel  http://www.sadafulee.blogspot.com

Penny Neville  http://www.copperpennydesigns.blogspot.com

Dee Elgie  http://www.cherryobsidia.blogspot.co.uk

Sarah Small  http://www.bysalla.blogspot.com

Carolyn Lawson  http://www.Carolynscreationswa.blogspot.com

Karin Slaton  http://www.backstorybeads.blogspot.com

Ashleigh Becker  http://www.seladesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

Kay Hand  http://www.creativetangent.blogspot.com

Rana L. Wilson  http://ranaleadesigns.blogspot.com/

Sandra McGriff  http://www.skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com

Dawn Pierro  http://www.turtlemoondesigns.me

Shelley Graham Turner  http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com

Karen Mitchell  http://www.overthemoon-design.com

Melissa Trudinger  http://www.beadrecipes.wordpress.com

Chair upgrade

One down with 5 to go.  These chairs are from my Grandparent's house - I have had them for close to 8 years and finally decided how to restore them.  I always thought they'd have to be stripped and refinished to show the wood.  This was way out of my price range to pay to have it done and way out of my time range to do it myself.  The joints have been cracking one chair at a time and we were down to only one chair that could be sat on safely so it was time to do something.... Pinterest to the rescue!  I saw some painted chairs there and thought why not - it the best of worlds the wood would be preserved, but at least now the chairs get to see the light of day.  My daughter helped me choose the fabric and paint color.  When the chairs are all done, I'm thinking about doing the table in a really dark blue.  I'm sure the paint will get chipped, so then I'll claim to be going for a "distressed" look.

I seem to be happiest when I have some sort of projects happening.  What house projects are you working on?

Thanks for stopping by,
Elaine

Barcelona Necklace

Have you seen the Barcelona Necklace from Ornamentea?   Cynthia made it for our booth at Beadfest Philly in August.  During the show she designed another necklace with a different configuration of the circles, and it was just as great.  

http://www.ornamentea.com/TheShop/TutorialPages/BarcelonaNecklace.html

This called for more circle sets in more colors.  On a whim I stacked them up after unloading the kiln. 

These circle sets make a lovely sculptural picture, but what I'd really like is to see what you'd do with them.  Make a Barcelona Necklace, design a necklace all on your own, or separate the pieces and use them in multiple finished products?    

Remember - I love pictures and links to your online shops.  

Thanks for stopping by, 

Elaine

My Useful Beads

A couple of more new shapes for my trunk show at Ornamentea on October 5th and 6th. The ones on the right don't show much of the clay, so initially I was not sure how I felt about them. Cynthia, the owner of Ornamentea, commented that she liked the small ones and thought that they'd be "useful".  I know some bead artists may be a bit put off to hear their beads referred to as "useful", but I actually love the idea!  To think that my beads help others to create beautiful things is spot on for me, it is my very intention.  

If you have any comments / thoughts about what is useful or helpful for you in your creative process, please let me a note.  Thanks for stopping by!

- Elaine

Cascade glazes are back!

New shapes in cascade glazes for trunk show October 5th and 6th.

Years ago I made bunches of pendants using cascade glazes.  Below is a picture from April, 2007.  As you can see, there are puddles and puddles of glaze all over the shelf.  The support posts were even glazed into place.  Those pendants were all between 11/4 to 3 inches big - so they needed lots of glaze which lead to all that dripping.  I still have some of these left, they were with me at Beadfest Philly and will be with me at my trunk show on October 5th and 6th.  I really love the look of the cascade glazes.

At the beginning of this year I gave the cascade glazes another try - not a complete fail, but not a complete success either.  http://elaineray.blogspot.com/2012/01/cascade-glazes-fired-some-success-some.html

Well, I gave the cascade glazes another try this past couple of weeks on a limited basis and am happy with the results!  You can see the samples in the top picture.  I like the look and feel of the pieces, they didn't drip onto the shelves, and it worked with all three of the clays I use.  I'm going to do the shapes pictured and a few more.  The picture in the lower right hand of the collage is a shot of the process of dipping the pieces (twice) and letting them hang to dry.  Cue the happy music.......

PS, notice how the sets in the first picture are held together with jump rings, rather than tied?  I totally stole that idea from Diana Ptaszynski.  Diana is an incredible ceramic bead artist and all around great person.  Check out her shop and blog:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/suburbangirlbeads
http://vintagebluestudio.typepad.com/

Thanks for stopping by,
Elaine

Capital Area Beading Organization

I had the privilege of attending my first Capital Area Beading Organization meeting this evening.  Wow - that room was packed full of talent!  There were demonstrations, project ideas, finished samples and a make-it-and-take it table.  It was fun to see old friends and meet new ones.  And - here is the kicker - I won a door prize!  These lovely earrings were made by the talented Melissa Eller.  I have so many outfits that they will go with and I have no other earrings like this so I'm super excited.  You can find more information about the Capital Area Beading Organization here: http://caboraleigh.org/ .Go take a look - they are a great bunch of people.  Hope to see you October 5th / 6th for my trunk show at Ornamentea.  

Pinterest - baked eggs

From my Pinterest board:  This I will try and let you know how it turns out.  The original blog post from Amy's Kitchen can be found here: http://www.amyskitchencreations.blogspot.com/2012/05/eggs-for-breakfast-sandwiches.html

It worked fine.  The eggs were tasty and kept in the fridge well.  One important thing I can add is to prick the egg yolk when reheating in a microwave.  The first reheat went as planned but the next egg exploded, so beware.  Amy was correct, they make a tasty, quick sandwich.  Go ahead and give it a try, you won't be disappointed.  

Holi Posi Flower

New bead shape for Ornamentea.com - the Holi Posi Flower

Cynthia designed a lovely tutorial using this bead that can be found here:  http://www.ornamentea.com/TheShop/TutorialPages/BrushstrokesMacrameBracelet.html

In all honesty, I let my friends at Ornamentea name the bead and I really have no idea what the background for the name is.  I even Googled it and  still came up blank.  So, in my mind Holi Posi can be translated into "lovely bead with 6 crazy holes to glaze around".  

If you pictures to share - let me know, I love pictures!

Thanks for stopping by,

Elaine

Tiny Kite Dangles

The new Tiny Kite Dangles are now available in 8 colors at http://store.ornamentea.com/store/category/9/59/Elaine-Ray-Ceramics/ .

Even for me these are small, measuring about 8mm each side. I gotta say, they are delightful to see and hold in person.  Let me know if you use them in a finished product so I can post a link to your site.  Thanks for stopping by!

The Art Bead Love Tour

Super excited to see Lori Anderson's blog post about The Art Bead Love Tour.  It was a thrill to see one of my blue almond shaped beads on the necklace as is arrived to Lori (that she decided to removed and keep) and an Elaine Ray diamond bezel pendant that she is adding to the necklace.  Here is what Lori said about The Art Bead Love Tour:  The Art Bead Love Tour is an ongoing project to spread the love of handmade to new and exciting places. It’s a way to reach people who may have never stumbled upon your blog on their own, and give them a chance to share the love of handmade. A chain was chosen to link beads as a symbol of how this project links us all together~ in our unity to stand behind handmade.


Go to Lori's blog for a chance to be included in the fun while getting a eyeful of beautiful art beads.  Enjoy!

From my Pintrest board:  This I will try and let you know how it turns out.  The original blog post from Real Simple can be found here:  http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/new-uses-for-old-things/you-need-blender-jar-10000000699904/index.html

It worked!  You can use a Mason or Ball jar with the blender.  My blender is an Oster, so I don't know if all benders work, but this did great.  I tried several different sized jars, even down to a small jam jar size.  This was something I originally saw on Pinterest on Swank Coffee's board.  

Let me know what you have tried from pins on Pinterest that worked out for you.  

Pinterest Flower Power Eggs

From my Pinterest board:  This I will try and let you know how it turns out.  The original blog post from Apron Strings can be found here:  http://www.apronstringsblog.com/uncategorized/flower-power-eggs-recipe-sunny-side-up-eggs/

As you can see the eggs stayed in the rings with just a bit leaking out the bottom.   The egg is much thicker than a typical fried egg as it is contained in the ring so it took much longer to cook than what I usually allow for sunny side up.  I really like my eggs runny so this may not be the best idea for me.  To hurry the egg along, I did flip it over which worked out fine.  If you are serving a breakfast meal this would be a lovely idea, just handle them gently as you transfer the eggs from the skillet to serving plate and try to find peppers with more exaggerated lobs than the ones I choose.

Good luck and happy eating!

New Letter tile beads

New letter tile beads!  This time we have added "%", "?" and numbers 0-9.  Here they are:  http://store.ornamentea.com/store/category/9/59/Elaine-Ray-Ceramics/  (scroll down to the bottom of the page).  Very small and light weight so you can put your message where you want it.  

Fair warning - the letter "H" is missing from the web site.  Happens that a heap of them are hiding here or there and I'm hoping to happen upon them.  When I do, I will hastily hand them over.

Thanks for stopping by!

Good-by and thanks to a couple glazes and shapes

It is time to say good-by to some old friends. To begin with, Ocean Wave and Heirloom glazes.   These lovely glazes have served me well for many years, and it is time to give them a rest.   As they sell out these colors will no longer be available at Ornamentea.com, though they will still be available in the store in a variety of shapes.

In addition to retiring those glazes, the following shapes will also be available only in the store: flat ovals, small flat tubes and large dot tube beads.  Here is a sample of the discontinued shapes.

Thanks so much for taking a look - feel free to post links to any sites where you have jewelry you'd like to show me.

- Elaine

Pinterest

Well I have started to use Pinterest.  Wow, what a visual treat it is.  This is going to take some self discipline to not do one more click, just one more, only one more, OK - this time I really mean it, last one for sure...  There are soooo  many good ideas out there.  Stuff to make, food to cook, things to paint, posters to read,  rooms to wish for, plants to grow, bookshelves to lust after and pins to pins.

I do find it inspiring, so I labeled one of my boards "This I will do and will let you know how it turns out."  And here is my first project.

To cut the clips off the hangers I scored the edges with a hand saw and then just snapped them off.  It probably would have been faster with a power saw, but I didn't feel like dragging it out.

The last picture is of our blueberry fence - the clips are around the top edge, holding the bird netting pieces together.  The hope is that these clips will last longer than regular wooden clothes pins which rot in a few years of sun and rain.  So far I say this was a good idea - successful pin.  Thanks for playing along.

 If you'd like to read more the original article is here:  http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=317786.0 

New 12 mm center drilled lentils

New bead style. Small center drilled lentils. These beads sit horizontal in the kiln (on a spike) making the lovely bit of color variation between the two sides of the beads. Each bead looks a bit different depending on the glaze flow.
 ~12 mm
http://www.ornamentea.com/ElaineRay.htm

Patina South has beautiful old sheet music

Patina South (a friend of mine) is having a sale at Ornamentea on Saturday, June 9th from 10a.m. until 2pm,  She has pages and pages of beautiful old sheet music.  This lamp belonged to my Grandmother and needed some sprucing up so I covered it with some of the music.  Looks good doesn't it?  There will be vintage maps, furniture and garden decor.  Go visit Patina South on Saturday and take home loads of lovely stuff.

Trunk show time!

Twice a year Ornamentea invites me in to have a trunk show. This spring's is scheduled for March 16th and 17th. These are always exciting times for me as I typically get inspired to create new shapes and explore new colors for these shows and this spring is no exception.

Here are some new shapes for our visual pleasure:

And here are some old shapes in new (and old) colors:

An old shape with a smaller hole size:

Keep watching - there is more to come. See you there!

Well, I guess I should first say that for the past many, many days I have been grateful that I can change my mind! So, I have discovered it is simple to be grateful everyday, but not so easy to blog about it everyday. Throughout the days there seems to be hundreds of things that I am grateful for, but when it comes time to write just one down, organization of thought just doesn't appear. So today I am grateful for flexibility and the ability to change my mind.

What are you grateful for today?

Treadmill small work station

Today I am grateful I was able to complete this small work station for the new treadmill. Simple and no additional cost. I took it for a spin walking (no running) and realized I can browse through facebook, look at blogs, read the news and do a bit of simple typing while I walk, but found a few times I needed to turn it off so I could lean in to closely look at ceramic beads. Curse you bead porn!

That is our cat Pickles ready to give it a go. She will be 19 years old in April!

What are you grateful for today?

Today I am grateful for my new (used) treadmill. The time has come to improve my health and drop a few pounds. My heart and knees with love me for it. We are fortunate to have a Play it Again Sports shop close by. They let me plug in and try out the treadmills to choose one and even though it is used it comes with a one year guarantee. I'm sure you have heard "sitting is the new smoking" so I'm also planning on equipping it with a work station, this will be especially useful for me as I'll most likely be walking, not running. I'll let know know if I write a blog post from there! Pictures to follow when complete.

What are you grateful for today?

Today I am grateful for Friday evenings. Our 3 kids are out of high school and in college right now (one will graduate this spring from NCSU). This frees up so much of our time that was before spent doing school related functions with our kids. Those were really wonderful times and I wouldn't trade them for anything - but - I'm liking this freedom of time we have now also. We try to do something fun on Friday evenings before the weekend chores set it. So far - so good!

What are you grateful for today?

Today I am grateful for Google Docs. Actually, I really like Gmail also. And Blogger (though I don't use all the bells and whistles so I'm sure I'm not using it to it's full potential). And Google Sites - which I have used for personal, business and volunteer mom reasons. And I just started uploading all our family photos to Picasa. I don't use Google+, but I'm getting tempted by the lure of online conferencing with video. And I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I get a bit emotional when I see the new Chrome commercial. Ack!

What are you grateful for today?

Today I am grateful that blogger has a function that allows me to put any date I desire on my posts. Without this I would be better at posting each day, which would more match my "intentions", but this function allows the flexibly to miss a day or two and still go back and write a post for each date. So, needless to say - I use this function and am happy to do so.

What are you grateful for today?

Grape vines

Today I am grateful to learn that my younger brother has taken interest in rejuvenating our parent's grape vines. We transplanted most of these vines from a relative's land in the early 70's. I wasn't so happy about it at the time. To transplant these grape plants, my dad dug up the individual plants in a manner that allowed vines of neighboring plants to stay tangled together - so we basically had a row of 4 foot tall plants (with roots hanging down and vines holding them together) to move about 1.5 miles. What better way to move this string of big plants than have your daughters and their friend carry them draped over their shoulders, walking down the roads, that 1.5 miles. Can you tell I'm from a small town? Where else would this not hold up traffic? Anyway, my brother and dad have started the process of pruning and clearing the way for the grape vines to become productive again. Thanks Mike and Dad!

What are you grateful for today?